Par un matin d'automne

by Robert Goddard

Fin des années 1990. Leonora Galloway part en France avec sa fille afin de se rendre à Thiepval, près d'Amiens, au mémorial qui honore les soldats - dont de nombreux Britanniques, comme son père - tombés durant la bataille de la Somme, lors de la Grande Guerre. Le 30 avril 1916 est la date officielle de son décès. Or Leonora est née près d'un an plus tard. Ce qui pourrait n’être qu’un banal adultère cache en fait une étrange histoire, des secrets de famille, sur lesquels plane l'ombre d'un meurtre jamais résolu et où chaque mystère en dissimule un autre… Dans ce livre envoûtant, Robert Goddard allie l'atmosphère des plus grands romans anglais à un sens du suspense et de la reconstitution historique remarquables.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Historical, World War I, Suspense

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

In a writing career spanning more than twenty years, Robert Goddard's novels have been described in many different ways - mystery, thriller, crime, even historical romance. He is the master of the plot twist, a compelling and engrossing storyteller and one of the best known advocates for the traditional virtues of pace, plot and narrative drive.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Then, scanning all the o'ercrowded mass, should you
Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
Great Death has made all his for evermore.

Waterlogged trench in WWI

In 1916, Captain John Hallows is reported killed in action in the Flanders fields of World War One. His death is only the first piece in a puzzle that takes decades for his daughter to ascertain the identity of her parents and the roles played by the constellation of people surrounding the events of this novel. At several points she feels she has all the pieces only to find a new fact that keeps her life a kaleidoscope of distorted images never quite forming a crisp, clear picture she can trust. As she unravels the truth from a nest of misdirection she discovers that...

Everybody lies, everybody lies, everybody lies...,

When Lieutenant Tom Franklin arrives at the Hallows manor house Moengate to recover from a shattered shoulder he received at the Battle of the Somme, he really was looking forward to meeting the wife and family of his good friend John Hallows. He doesn't find the pastoral English country setting he was expecting. The house is full of people, and oddly none of them are related to one another. With the death of Captain Hallows the strings attaching everyone together have been severed.

Lord Powerstock is Captain John Hallows father. The Victorian age had vanished and left him, beached and bereft, in a world he no longer understood, where grief was merely a metaphor for all the sensations of his loss.

Lady Olivia Powerstock is the 2nd Mrs. Hallows and is in all sense of the phrase a gold digger. Previously married to a painter Olivia is a woman lacking sexual restraint and has a feral capability that makes her dangerous to anyone associated with her. She has a steady stream of convalescing soldiers to seduce and does she ever seduce them. With Mae West curves accented by expensive, delicate, lingerie she finds few men can refuse her.

Leonora Hallows is the wife of Captain Hallows. A beautiful widow that does not lack for suitors. She reveals that she is pregnant and as everybody starts counting on their fingers and discovers that Captain Hallows has been dead too long to be the father; the plot becomes murky with speculation. She is being blackmailed by Ralph Mompesson, but not necessarily for the reasons one might think.

Lieutenant Tom Franklin soon falls in love with Leonora, barely avoids being seduced by the temptuous Olivia, and finds himself a mere pawn in the games of the household residents.

Ralph Mompesson, the rich American arriving under a cloud of suspicion. He is the lover of Olivia, but is intent on seducing and marrying Leonora. He is so antagonistic that he makes enemies of everyone and when he ends up dead no one mourns his passing and everyone has motive. The suicide of a mentally war wounded soldier on the grounds after the murder provides easy closer for the case, but it is far from over. The investigation into the murder of Mompesson leaves more questions than answers. It made me think of the show Foyle's War where it seems so trivial investigating a murder when so many are being murdered on the fields of battle across the channel.

Charter, John Hallows Grandfather, with the death of his grandson has lost all claim to his place at Moengate. He seems to be everywhere, an affable old man, a fly in the ointment that Olivia for one would like to see the last of, who knows much more about everything than what he is willing to tell.

Now as I said earlier everyone lies in this novel, some to cover up their own guilt, some to protect those they think are guilty, and some just for the bloody hell of it. Half way through the novel all that I thought I knew was wrong. Three-quarters of the way through at least fifty percent of what I thought I knew was wrong. It is only when the final pieces are fitted together near the end that I could walk away from this novel at least thinking I know who, what, when and where. Excellent pacing in this novel and certainly brilliantly plotted and conceived. I'd tell you who done it, but then that wouldn't be any fun at all now would it?

[Jonetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six months following her husband's death, 70-year old Leonora Galloway takes her daughter, Penelope, on vacation to Paris but with a few unscheduled stops. The first is to Thievpal, site of the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme where her father, Captain John Hallows, perished in World War I. This begins Leonora's tale of her life's odyssey amidst her family's secrets, shared with her daughter for the first time.

This is a tragic story told beautifully in an almost poetic style. The words matter here as they work to frame not only the events but capture the soul of each character. It didn't take me long to become almost mesmerized by the writing, even when I felt repulsed by some of the actions. What's brilliant, however, is how impossible it is to form lasting judgments about the characters (with a couple of exceptions) as they are just sometimes victims of circumstances, making choices that may appear unforgivable on the surface. It's what lies beneath that's not always evident or clear and I found my opinions shifting with each chapter.

Told from multiple points of view and in strong voices, the story was compelling and the characters layered. There are many twists and turns, even through the last page. I loved this book and my experience reading it. It's my first by this writer and certainly not my last.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mmm, mmm, mmm! I'm smackin' my lips! Juicy! This was just delectable. I don't even like British mysteries, but I loved this one. I was torn between wanting to devour it and not wanting to finish it too fast.
Intricately plotted, perfectly paced, and richly detailed. Full of the right mix of lovable and hatable characters. Secrets within secrets, double-backs and double-crosses. The fun never ends, right up to the very last page. Even when you figure out some of the secrets before you get to them, it's fun to read the details.

Poor little orphaned Leonora Hallows grew up lonely at Meongate, the country estate of Lord and Lady Powerstock. She was mostly ignored by her grandfather Edward, and ill-treated by Olivia, her evil, conniving, manipulative step-grandmother. She heard whisperings and suggestions of murder and mayhem at Meongate before her birth, but no one would answer her questions. When Leonora is grown, she meets people who give her pieces of the story, but some of them are lying, and some of them think they know the truth and they are wrong. She pursues every clue and chases down every person until she finally has the complete picture of what happened in 1916, as well as plenty of other juicy family secrets.

Read this one just for the fun of it, and for the great ambiance. It almost has a Gothic feel to it at times, except that it's set in a different time period and is not quite so sinister.

[Dem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings about this book. It was not what I had expected. It is a murder mystery with lots of twists and turns.

I found the first 150 pages of the book a struggle and many times I thought I would just put it down but reading the other reviews of the book helped me continue on to the end.

This is a murder mystery set within a family home which takes place around the first world war. I found this book lacking as I had expected more war references and think that Goddard shied away from the historical side of things which I needed in order for this book to work, but this was not what the book was about and while the murder mystery side of the book is well written it is a little predictable and at times I found it rambled on quite a bit.

I also found the writing style did not work for me as they story is recounted from one person to another and just did not have enough punch for me. I did find the second half of the book does pick up pace and is quite readable but for me it was a little too late.

I found the characters really annoying and quite badly developed and to be honest by the end was not really bothered who had actually "DONE IT"

I would have rated this book 2.5 stars.

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Goddard is one of those writers who knows how to tell a story. I have read a number of his books over the years. This is one of his earlier novels which I bought for my husband, but one day when I was desperate for a good read, I picked it up. Goddard is one writer we both agree on. The story sucked me right in from the first line of the prologue. ’This is the day and this the place where a dream turns a corner and a secret is told.’ Who could resist an opening like that? I sure couldn’t!
Months after her husband dies, 70 year old Leonora sets off for France with her daughter Penelope. It is a time for secrets to be revealed about her family and explanations given. But even Leonora is unprepared for some of the discoveries she makes, starting from the first one at the Thiepval monument. Given the date, it appears Captain John Hallows cannot possibly have been her real father. Or is she missing something? Yes, quite a lot as it turns out.
This story is one of people who are not always what they seem. It has lots of twists and turns, some I figured out in advance. Others I did not as the story moves through World War 1 and into the 1970s. There are tensions and evil going on, as well as more than one secret. If you like mysteries with a historical background and plenty of suspense as you try and follow the clues laid like a trail of breadcrumbs, you should enjoy this as I did.

[Rosario · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Pale Battalions starts with two women, mother and daughter, visiting a 1st World War grave in northern France. The mother, Leonora, points out the date on her own father's gravestone. It indicates he couldn't actually have been her father. And so the story begins, starting with the story of Leonora's life, growing up with her villainous step-grandmother, who makes the girl's doubtful parentage clear and her life hell. It's clear to Leonora that there's some sort of mystery surrounding the circumstances of her birth, but it's only years later that an old soldier friend of her father's approaches her and tells her the whole story about what happened at Meongate, the family pile, around the time when Leonora was born.

It's a complex, melodramatic story, full of twists and turns, but I had too many issues with it to really enjoy it. My main issue, I think, was that the type of plot it was: one of my least favourites. It felt like a steamy, seamy soap opera/family saga, Dynasty on steroids, full of villainous characters who are evil purely because they're evil (the grandmother, Olivia, I found particularly unbelievable). The characters are all either horrendous or weak and rather stupid, and I found it very hard to give a fig about them and their fates.

Most of the book is told in flashback, as Leonora tells her daughter her story, which, in a sort of nested fashion, includes a long section in the middle narrated by her father's friend, Tom Franklin. Tom is the person who reveals the dramatic events that went on in Meongate in 1916, and the first to tell Leonora about her mother, who'd been dismissed by evil Olivia as a whore.

Tom is, to put it mildly, quite the piece of work. The problem is that I think he's meant to come across as a nice guy who stumbles upon a fraught situation and feels a responsibility to help his old friend's wife. Instead, I'm afraid he came across as a Nice Guy™. His reaction to Leonora's mother (also called Leonora) when she's basically screaming for help is classic. Instead of actually helping, even though he knows the guy who's clearly threatening her must have something on her, and is obviously coercing her into something, the horrible waste of space just mopes about how treacherous she is and how she had the chance to be with a nice guy like him but instead she's chosen to become involved with this awful man. Argh!! I just could NOT forgive that for the rest of the book, and hoped he'd die. He's also incredibly STUPID. If you've read this, I'm talking, for instance, about Cheriton's letter. Oh, for fuck's sake! He fucking knows Olivia is evil, and still hands her the letter! And then acts all surprised at her actions! And Leonora I wanted to shake and slap, as well. Just actually speak, woman, instead of playing games, hoping that someone will follow all your clues, reach all the right conclusions and do what you want them to do. If you've read this, I'm talking about her stunt with the telescope. Gah!

Guess you can tell the characters annoyed me? They annoyed me so much that what could have been quite a satisfying mystery, with lots of twists and turns, and big final revelations, didn't get much of a reaction. Plus, I could pretty much see most of the twists coming.

I also had issues with the way the story was told, supposedly as Leonora speaking to her daughter, and then Tom Franklin speaking to Leonora. It was a device that often felt unbelievable, as several times the narrator would tell the person listening details that I found very difficult to believe they would tell (mainly when speaking of issues with sexual content). Would Franklin really have told Leonora, whom he'd never meant before, exactly how a certain woman´s breast felt like when he cupped it? Really? Seriously!

So, not a huge success, I'm afraid. Just not my cup of tea. On the other hand, I reckon my mother would love it, so I've sent it on to her!

MY GRADE: A C-.

[Diane Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh so many secrets! A very good mystery and even when you think all is revealed, you turn a corner and find that perhaps not all is as it seems. Takes place from about 1916-1970.

[Darrell Delamaide · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is difficult to be so subtle and so dazzling at the same time, but Robert Goddard pulls it off in this mesmerizing novel. Once again, Goddard's mastery of the language alone makes the book a joy to read, and confirms my feeling that British writers -- Simon Mawer and Rennie Airth are other examples -- have an edge over us Americans when it comes to language. Chaucer and Shakespeare are lurking in their descriptions, their dialogue.

In Pale Battalions also has a finely crafted plot. It is part murder mystery, but so much more than that. It deals with World War I and the hopelessness and futility of that conflict.

But the war itself is just a backdrop for a study in how challenging trust and integrity can be, how easily we are susceptible to corruption, and how difficult it is to be tolerant of our own failings and the flaws of others. Although the tribulations of the family of Lord Powerstock are particularly dramatic, the impact on the family members is not so different from the more mundane trials that all of us have experienced in family life. The secrets and the lies that follow through the generations are told here, whereas most of us may never be aware of the hidden events in our family trees.

When he is given leave to convalesce for a wound sustained in the Somme, Tom Franklin goes to stay with the family of his friend and commander, John Hallows, who was reported killed in action earlier. He falls in love with Hallows' wife, Leonora, who seems caught up in a web of blackmail and who surprisingly has become pregnant shortly after her husband's death. The conniving of Leonora's step-mother-in-law and an American adventurer intent on gaining control of the estate set Franklin and Leonora both fateful journeys that do not have happy endings.

Their are further twists and turns as the anonymity imposed by the war leads to a succession of mistaken identities and past failings of family members have consequences in succeeding generations. Goddard contrives to have a number of first person narrators tell the story, and not all of them are reliable. He slowly draws back the veils revealing a new dimension of truth to a picture we thought we had figured out, right down to the last pages with a final, surprising twist.

Reading this often tragic tale, you cannot keep your same certitudes about what constitutes courage or cowardice, or even right or wrong. Can you combat evil only with good, or must it be fought in kind?

The story stretches over four generations so many of the main characters are dead by the end. This lends their story a fatalistic perspective -- in the end, what really mattered in their lives? There is the hope that Leonora's daughter, another Leonora, and her daughter, Penelope, have grown in character from the revelations about their family history. The same may be true for us as readers.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh what a tangled web we weave.....

I really liked this, a part 'who's the daddy?' and part 'who's the killer?' mystery which starts during WWI and slowly unravels over the next seventy years. After the first few chapters I rather smugly thought I'd worked out what had happened, but all my theories were unceremoniously dumped by the wayside as one by one by all the murky secrets and lies of this dysfunctional family were revealed. Although I was a little disappointed that wicked Olivia wasn't quite as wicked as I'd hoped, the twists and turns kept me guessing right till the end, and the references to the Thiepval Memorial for the Missing at Somme were very poignant.

Thank for the rec, Diane Lynn :-)

[CLM · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across Goddard in my first publishing job before he was published in the US, and was instantly entranced. Every word is so carefully chosen and every scene so deliberately set - it requires close attention not to miss the clues he drops along the way, and his plots are so intricate it is not always easy to stay caught up but it is well worth the effort!

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Goodreads description tells only the first of several secrets: Leonora Galloway was born March 1917 while her father was reported missing and presumed dead in April 1916. Well, of course that isn't exactly a secret, it's just that she didn't make the information known to her children and now that all other members of her family have died, it is time to open up the past to them. What we quickly learn is that Leonora knew only that about her past and her discovery of so much more comprises the remainder of the novel.

The story is filled with family secrets. That, however, is probably not enough to have this classed as a mystery. There is also a murder. Everyone is certain they know who did it, and, for the most part, they suspect someone different. There are multiple first person narrators. The person I suspected was not one of those narrators.

What appealed to me most is that it centers on the time period of the First World War. This is a special time period for me. But even if it isn't what would draw most people, there is plenty of the family saga. Meongate is not an old gothic house, but it encroaches on that genre for those who lean that way. As if that weren't enough there is a vile and evil step-mother. With all of that, I never felt this was a disjointed, even schizophrenic tale. It holds together well and it kept me turning pages.

Perhaps it goes without saying that first and foremost this is a plot-driven novel. The writing is a bit better than you should expect for such. The characterizations are not fully-fleshed, but neither are they simply cardboard. This was my first by the author, but I am very glad that I've managed to pick up others on the cheap. Only because this is a plot-driven novel does this fall out of my 5-star grouping and sits in the top maybe 10% of my 4-star group.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story begins with a mother and daughter visiting a First World War grave in France and the mother pointing out how the dates on the grave meant that her father could not have been her father. From that moment on, the story is passed from narrator to narrator, not all reliable, until that mystery and a murderer are revealed. This is my first Robert Goddard and, I guess, not my last. Whatever good things I have to say about the style and the story, and there are many positives, I found it too drawn out and overly convoluted.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful read! One which requires concentration because there are numerous twists and turns to the WWI mystery.

As chance would have it, I was simultaneously researching documents in Ancestry on an ancestor whose name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme so, of course, I was doubly interested.

This is the first novel I have read by Robert Goddard, but it won't be the last. Thoroughly recommended.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another engrossing read from Goddard. As is often the case this is a convoluted, psychological slow-burn book! It is not technically crime or a thriller although it has elements of both.

In this one we follow Franklin a young soldier from WW1 who gets injured and is sent to convalesce at the large estate of his commanding officer who has just been killed in the trenches. The widow is obviously distressed but is also afraid, the father is detached and seems to ignore the evil going on in his house and a young shell-shocked officer knows more than he should.

Franklin slowly unfolds a story of deception and depravity and the final outcome is not revealed until the very end of the book.

If you like a book that builds with tension and is more psychological than violent this is for you!

[Gram · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story about family secrets and lies spread out over 60 years. There are already more than 200 reviews of this book on goodreads, so all I'll say is that I've read & enjoyed several of Robert Goddard's books and the man really can tell a story and make you care about the characters.
The plot of "In Pale Battalions" is somewhat convoluted and there were surprises in store when I realised that some of the characters weren't as good or bad as I originally thought. But for the occasionally impenetrable plot I would have given this book 4 stars.

[Clarabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai préféré, de loin, toute la première partie du roman, à Meongate, qui colle typiquement aux grands classiques anglais, car la suite réserve plus ou moins de bonnes surprises (la succession de rebondissements s'avère un peu pénible car peu crédible au final). Somme toute, la lecture est facile, romanesque et intense, mais on y prend goût !
http://blogclarabel.canalblog.com/arc...

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a tight plot: one of the best I've ever read in a mystery! Setting is the 20th century; the story takes us from the First World War to the 1970s, from the muddy fields and war monument "Missing of the Somme" of France and another monument in Belgium to all different locations in Britain: the estate of a Lord Powerstock, Meongate, from Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Cornwall, to London.

The story opens as Leonora Galloway takes her daughter, Penelope, to the Somme monument. Leonora wishes to find out the truth about her parents; she has been overshadowed by the stigma of illegitimacy all her life. World War I overshadows everything in the novel. It consists of one narrative after the other interspersed with Leonora's actions furthering the plot; Leonora tells her daughter [and us] of her growing-up years at the estate and a still-unsolved murder and also a suicide. A mysterious veteran under an assumed name visits her years later and tells her of serving with her husband in France and their friendship. Leonora traces out the truth of his story for herself. There are many unexpected plot twists until the truth is finally revealed.

I believe this author is called 'master of the twist' or something similar; this book was absolutely gripping, with believable characters. There were lies, deceptions, blackmail along the way. The novel was very well written and the plot was amazing.

"When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
Say not soft things as other men have said,
That you'll remember. For you need not so.
Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know
It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?
Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.
Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.
Say only this, "They are dead." Then add thereto,
"Yet many a better one has died before."
Then, scanning all the o'ercrowded mass, should you
Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
Great death has made all his for evermore."

Charles Sorley

World War I war poet

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read that some people believe the early Robert Goddard books superior to the later ones and, having found Robert Goddard through “Into the Blue” I was very keen to read “In Pale Battalions” as this is his second book, written in 1988. I have to say I do agree with the comment, but not for the reasons that others cite. The quality of the writing in “In Pale Battalions” is quite beautiful and the construction of the story extremely clever. That this is only Goddard’s second novel is quite amazing – he shows an exquisite skill with the English language which makes reading this book a joy just for reading it. I would agree that the latest novels seem to have dispensed with the quality of prose, being substituted for a more “Bournesque” speed of narrative but that just makes those novels different.

I think Goddard put a lot of himself and his family into this novel, his dedication being to Frederick John Goddard – missing presumed killed in action, Ypres, Belgium 27th April 1915. And, having spent a while working in the Somme Valley, the names of the towns do mean something to me as well.

This story takes the Great War and shows how it penetrated every walk of life and every strata of society in some way or other. Captain, The Right Honourable John Halllows is the missing presumed dead of this story but the question is, is he dead or has he deserted? And why did he ask his good friend Lieutenant Franklin to go to the family home, Meongate, and look in on his wife, Leonora, and Lord and Lady Powerstock? What sort of strange liaison and what intrigue involved the frequent visitor, the American Mompesson, with Lady Powerstock and Leonora? What is the connection between Hallows’ mother and the fledgling workers rights movement and who is the strange person called Willis?

When the tale resolves itself, and it does so right at the very end of the story, the resolution is so obvious and simple you find yourself asking how you missed that when you read it 300 pages earlier. But that is the beauty of Goddard. The answers are always there but you don’t know what question to ask until it is obvious. A great read.

[Bruce Hatton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of Robert Goddard’s earliest novels and is quite a different sort of story to those in his more recent novels I’ve read. It is a story told mainly in flashback concerning the bizarre goings-on at Meongate; a large country house in Hampshire; home to the wealthy and highly disfunctional Powerstock family.
The story begins with Leonora Galloway and her daughter Penelope visiting the grave in France of Leonora’s father, Captain John Hallows who was presumably killed at the battle of the Somme in 1916. However, he was killed almost a year before Leonora was born; so who really is her father?
The main flashback is told by Captain Hallows’ friend and second-in-command, Lieutenant Tom Franklin who is sent to Meongate to convalesce after being wounded in action. Instead of the restful atmosphere he was hoping for, he finds a house full of dangers, secrets and lies; all presided over by the devious and rapacious Olivia, the second Lady Powerstock.
This is a story of numerous untold deceptions. Even the decent people are forced to live false lives. Consequentially, just when we think we understand everything, another shocking revelation takes us by surprise. None of the narrators appears to possess all the facts; all their stories containing omissions or misunderstandings. Thus, it isn’t until the final chapter that we realise the full truth of what really happened at Meongate.
In Pale Battalions is an intricately and meticulously plotted novel. Although having a murder mystery at its heart, it seems to transcend all genres. An early indication that Robert Goddard is a literary force to be reckoned with.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific, layered story with a murder mystery within it, but so much more going on. I'll be looking for other books by Robert Goddard after enjoying this one so much.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good mystery--a very good work of historical fiction--and a very good melodrama. It was a page turner, although you can turn the page slowly, but you still want to see what happens next! Death and romance and evil set against the background of World War I make this book an excellent choice for those who want to step back to the time when books were read slowly! It is one of the few books where I not only wanted to see what occurs on the next page but had to go back a few pages and digest what I think occurred. After I finished the book, I would have loved to discuss it with someone to affirm what I think the ending was about! You'll see. Read it and then let me know what you think was disclosed on those final pages!

[Bettie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Lucy Barnhouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite its sensationalist plot, this book felt very bloodless to me. Its characters, pawn-like, act with an almost somnolent fatalism. The hovering omniscience of the narrator occasionally breaks out into asides. There is a Good Woman and a Bad Woman. I'm sure that a not-insignificant factor in my disappointment in this very plot-driven novel is that, in many ways, it's the kind of thing I *should* like, and do like. I'm a sucker for books about the unreliability of narrative and the power of secrets and memory and history. The English Patient, Atonement, The Stranger's Child, The Children's Book, The Sense of an Ending, On Chesil Beach... my appetite for these things is insatiable. In Pale Battalions ticks a lot of familiar boxes; it even has a country house in physical and moral decline. I don't mind middlebrow sensationalism either (I own first editions of both Random Harvest and Mrs. Miniver.) This book is my kind of thing. But I found myself slogging painfully through it.

[Okenwillow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ce livre m’a donné envie de lire un Wilkie Collins. Ça en dit long. J’ai liquidé ce gros pavé en une journée et une petite soirée. La 4e ne ment pas, n’exagère pas. L’histoire est passionnante, l’intrigue ficelée à l’anglaise, avec de multiples rebondissements parfaitement dosés et organisés, je confirme l’aspect littéralement hypnotique du roman. Impossible de rester trop longtemps sans savoir le fin mot de l’histoire.
La première et principale narratrice relate à sa fille le secret de sa naissance, en commençant par son enfance, et les multiples secrets qui l’ont entourée. Parvenue à l’âge adulte, Leonora fait de nouvelles découvertes concernant les mois précédant sa naissance, et le récit change alors de voix. Un nouveau narrateur prend le relais, et nous dévoile un autre pan de la famille de Leonora. Une construction habile, qui enrichit un récit très riche. L’écriture est magnifique, le style impeccable et colle parfaitement à l’époque et au contexte. L’arrière-plan historique ajoute à la crédibilité d’un ensemble déjà solide et bien construit. Les personnages sont variés, certains sont très attachants, d’autres répugnants et malfaisants. Chaque protagoniste est fouillé autant que possible, les motivations de chacun sont souvent obscures.
L’histoire est très touffue comme je les aime, composée de très nombreux recoupements, racontée par plusieurs points de vue.
Le dénouement est à tomber raide, car l’auteur n’a pas épuisé sont stock de révélations et nous en réserve une bien belle pour la dernière page. J’avoue que personnellement, je n’ai pas vu grand-chose venir au cours de la lecture, à part un élément (capital, certes), mais le dénouement m’a vraiment bluffée.
Le roman n’aurait pu être qu’excellent sans cette fin tellement émouvante et que je n’ai pas vue venir. Là, j’en suis au GROS coup de cœur. Snif.

[martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those difficult to classify books. At times it feels like a modern day Wuthering Heights, complete with seriously dysfunctional landed family, then at others there is a lot of the Agatha Christie about it.

There is a murder but it happens a long way into the book and in many ways it isn't really the main focus, even if the murderer is eventually unmasked in the last few pages. If anything, the book is about a search for answers about a lost identity and a damaged childhood. As the layers of the family history's very mouldy onion get peeled back we learn more and more about the twists and turns of the family history - with a few dead ends added for good measure. By no means all gentility and refinement either, as at times we are taken into the horrific, futile trenches or into the seedy Portsmouth dockyard netherbelly.

The last twist in the "who am I" plot (as opposed to the "whodunnit") is not too surprising but is totally believable and acceptable.

Why only 3 stars? Well, the plot relies on several characters recounting their stories, (and sometimes telling a story within a story) but the language used almost always sounds written rather than spoken, even allowing for the pomposity of the time.

[Chris Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another page-turner from Goddard. The bulk of the story takes place in World War I-era England, so fans of Hand In Glove will probably get into this one. I prefer his stories set in the present day, or at least where the murder that kicks everything off takes place in the present day... motives in Goddard's stories are always rooted deeply in the past.

If you haven't read a Goddard mystery before, basically everybody in them is a liar. They spend all their time lying to and fro up and down the lane for years and years. Then somebody gets murdered and all those lies are subject to the obsessive scrutiny of some sad person who thinks everything will be all right if they can just find out The Truth. Everybody else reacts with more lies and additional murders, and by the end The Truth is laid bare and everybody is honestly miserable or dead. Great fun!

[Ruthiella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recently read a blogger’s review of Du Maurier's Rebecca and he was not impressed, which really disappointed me, because I love that book and I respect the blogger’s opinion. But some books have to be read at the right time, I think, and I wonder if I read In Pale Battalions at the wrong time. I found it to be rather dull. I guessed all the twists well in advance of the big reveal. It was full of honorable characters who do all the wrong things for all the right reasons and one character who was unspeakably and inexplicably sadistic. With a strong anti war message.

[Lori Baldi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The very best book. In the world. This book just appealed to me when I found it in the library in the late 1980s. The story sounded good and when I read it I was blown out of the water by the story. The writing appeals to me the way that layers are formed on an onion. Fascinating story. Fantastic writing. Perfection in writing.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was gripped from the tantalizing opening line from the prologue of this book:

"This is the day and this the place where a dream turns a corner and a secret is told."

Read my full review at: http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspo...

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ended up really enjoying this book - it was stories within stories, with a gothic edge to it, full of secrets and twists, some surprising, some not, but all told with flair.